Coin-operated mechanism.



No. 824,543. PATENTED JUNE'ZG, 1906. W.- A, HIGKEY & J. BROWN. COINOPERATED MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. '7, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Nb. 824,548. PATENTED'JUNB'ZB, 1906.

W. A. HIGKEY & J. BROWN.

COIN OPERATED MECHANISM;

APPLIUATION FILED JAN. 7, 1905.

Y I 2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

mew/tow, #01 film/W Gamm 5 UNITED STATES PATENT @FFTCE.

WILLIAM A. HIOKEY AND JOSEPH BROWN, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

COIN-OPERATED MECHANISM- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. June 26, 1906.

To a whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM A. HioKEY and JOSEPH BROWN, citizens of theUnited States, residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey, State ofMinnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCoin-Operated Mechanisms; and we do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to coin-operated mechanisms, andmore particularlyto coinactuated vendin -machines, and has for its object to provide amachine of this kind which will be arranged to automatically dischargean article of merchandise therefrom and which will include a novelarrangement of parts which will produce the desired result in a simpleand efiicient manner.

Another object is to provide a machine embodying this feature which maybe applied to a street-car and which may be secured to one of theupright stanchions of the car.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the followingdescription, and it will be understood that modifications of thespecific construction shown may be made and any suitable materials maybe used without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings forming a portion of this specification, and in whichlike characters of reference indicate similar parts in the severalviews, Figure 1 is an elevation of the present invention applied to astreet-car. Fig. 2 is a section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1, illustrating themachine in the act of discharging an article therefrom. Fig. 3 is afront view of the device with the front covers removed. Fig. 4 is ahorizontal section taken just above the slide and illustrating thelatter in top plan, the guides being broken away to illustrate thesprings.

Referring now to the drawings, the present invention comprises a bodyportion 5, including sides 6 and 7, a back 8, and a front 9. The lowerportions 6 of the sides 6 and 7 extend forwardly beyond the upperportions 7 of the sides, the upper edges of these forwardlyextendingportions be1ng beveled upwardly from their forward edges, as shown at10. The upper portions 7 are approximately twice the height of the lowerportions 6, as shown. Secured within the body portion and extendingtransversely thereof there is a horizontal partition 11, whichterminates short of the back 8, and formed in the upper face of thispartition 11 there is a recess 12, which extends from the forward to therearward edge thereof, the forward portion of the bottom of this recessbeing concaved transversely thereof, as shown. Extending verticallywithin the body portion between the partition 11 and the back 8 there isa partition 13, which is spaced a sufficient distance from the back topermit of the passage of the articles vended by the machine between itand the back, the space between the parti tion 13 and the partition 1 1being of a size for the passage of coins therethrough. The partition 13terminates short of the upper face of the partition 11, but extends somedistance therebelow, and below the lower edge of the partition 13 theportions of the sides 6 and 7, which lie forwardly of the plane of theparti tion, are cut away, as shown at 14, resulting in dependingportions 15 of the sides. Secured to the lower edges of the sides abovethe cut-away portions 14 there is a bottom board 16, which terminates atthe partition 13, which with the bottom board form a till 17. Secured tothe bottoms of the portions 15 and to the bottom of the back there is aboard 18, there being thus formed a discharge-pan 19.

The front 9 consists of three portions, the lowermost portion 9 beingattached to the forward edges of the portions 6 and having an opening 20therethrough registering with the recess 12. The portion 9 thus forms afront for the till 17 At one side the portion 9 is connected with theside 7 by means of hinges 21, and at the other side there is a suitablelatch 22 to hold the portion 9 in operative position. The intermediateportion 9 of the front is secured to the slanting edges 10 and has acoin-slot 23 formed therethrough, while'the upper portion 9 of the frontis secured to the forward edges of the sides above the portions 6.

Secured to the upper face of the partition 11, one at each side of therecess 12, are plates 24, which lie in spaced relation to the parti tionand which are held in position by pins 25, engaged in their ends and inthe partition 11. A slide 26 is disposed upon the upper face of thepartition 11 and is movable transversely thereof, this slide having adepending rib 27, which lies within the recess 12, and having extendingforwardly therefrom a plunger 28,

which projects outwardly through the opening 20. The slide 26 has atransverse groove 29 in its upper face, in which there is engaged a rod30, extending laterally beyond the slide and beneath the plates 24, theends of this rod lying beyond the outer edges of the plates, and securedto the inner faces of the sides are longitudinally-slotted tubes 31, inthe slots of which the ends of the rods are engaged, the tubes extendinghorizontally so that the rods move longitudinally within the slots ofthe tubes when the slide is moved. The rearward ends of the tubes areclosed by the back 8, against which they rest, and disposed between theback and the rearward face of the rod are helical springs 32, which liewithin the tubes 31 and hold the slides yieldably at the forward limitof its movement. Formed vertically through the slide and its rib 27there is a slot 33, and the slide is movable to bring this slot aboveand into registration with the coin-passage between the partitions 11and 13, and when the slide is in its normal position in which it is heldby the springs 32 the slot 33 lies below the coinslot 23 and in positionto receive a coin passed therethrough. It will thus be apparent that acoin drolpped through the slot23 will fall into the s t 33 and may bemoved by the slide to a point above the space between the twopartitions. When it has reached this position, the coin will pass out ofthe slot 33 into the till 17. When the coin is moved by the slide, thelower portion of the periphery of the former rests against the concavebottom of the recess 12, and when in this position the upper portion ofthe coin extends out of the slot 33 and projects slightly above theupper faces of the plates 24, so as to engage an article resting uponthese plates.

Secured to the inner faces of the sides 6 and 7 and lying in spacedrelation thereto are the walls 34 of a magazine 35, which contains thearticles to be vended, the back of this magazine being formed by a plate36, which lies in spaced relation to the back 8. The walls 34 extendingvertically and are disposed with their lower ends adjacent to the plates24, these plates at their rearward ends extending between the walls andterminating short of the back 36, the lower edge of the latter beingspaced vertically from the plane of the plates, and the forward edges ofthe walls 34 lie rearwardly of the plane occupied'by the slot 33 whenthe slide 26 is in its normal position.

Secured at its forward end to the rearward face of the back 36 and atits rearward end to the forward face of the back 8 there is a block 37which extends below the back 36, and below the back the block is beveleddownwardly and rearwardly for a purpose to be presently described.

Then in use, the articles to be vended are disposed in the magazine 35,lying one upon another and the lowermost resting upon the plates 34.Disposed upon the uppermost article there is a suitable weight 38. Inthe op eration of the machine a coin is passed through the slot 23 tothe slot 33, after which the slide is moved rearwardly to bring the upper portion of the coin into engagement with the lowermost article.Further movement of the slide causes this article to move rearwardly andbrings its rearward edge into engagement with the bevel face of theblock 37, the article being thus directed downwardly into the spacebetween the partition 13 and the back 8, falling through this space tothe discharge-pan 19. The arrangement is such that as soon as thearticle has left the plates 34 the coin passes'into the till 17, asdescribed above.

The body portion 5 is provided with attaching devices 37, by which themachine may be attached to one of the vertical stanchions of astreet-car. The attaching devices consist of plates 38, havingperforations adjacent to their ends. These plates are secured at one endto the sides 6 and 7, adjacent to the tops and bottoms thereof, andproject beyond the back 8, and certain of the perforations are locatedin these rearwardly-proj ecting portions. The width of the machine issuch that the rearwardly-extending portions of the plates are spacedsufliciently to receive the stanchion of a car therebetween, and theplate may be secured to the stanchion by means of screws passed throughthe perforations and the rearwardly-extending portions of the plates.

As mentioned, the forward portion of the recess 12 is concaved, and therearward portion thereof is also somewhat concaved, but slants upwardlyto form an inclined plane A. WVhen the coin passes into the slot 33 asmentioned above, the lower edge of the coin rests against the bottom ofthe recess 12, and the incline A is so disposed that after the upperportion of the coin has come into engagement with the article to bedischarged and has passed beneath the article next above the coin willbe raised to lift the articles lying above the one to be discharged,thus relieving the weight upon the latter and facilitating its rearwardmovement.

What is claimed is A mechanism of the class described comprising acasing, a horizontal partition in the casing, a slide disposed upon thepartition for movement thereover, longitudinallyslotted tubes disposedat opposite sides of the slide, helical springs within the tubes, a rodcarried by the slide and engaged at its end. portions slidably in theslots of the tubes, said rod resting against the springs, said springsbeing arranged to hold the slide at one limit of its movement, saidslide having a coin-receiving slot therein and being arranged formovement against the action of the springs to bring a coin in the slotinto engagement with an article disposed upon the plates and for furthermovement to disengage said article from the plates and to move the coinbeyond the horizontal partition to permit of passage of the coindownwardly through the coin-slot.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures in presence of twoWitnesses.

WILLIAM A. HICKEY. JOSEPH BROWN. Witnesses:

DAVID SANFORD, Jr. JOHN H. HAUSE.

